Standard fonts look really horrible

[Sielah]

I've been using Windows Vista for a year or so, and the fonts are driving me nuts.

I find that all of the installed fonts look absolutely crap, even the basic stuff such as Arial or Verdana. The edges are very rough and jagged, and the letters are just too black and too heavy, even in regular, non-bold mode.

When I use something like Sylfaen, the characters are actually displayed with different heights and thickness. The larger the font size, the worse it looks.

What drives me nuts the most is the spacing problem. Some characters are all bunched up together, while others have a huge gap between them.

When I download and install other fonts, what I see on the screen in no way matches the sample on the web page. And I'm not talking any old crap free stuff here. I tried to install a really good quality font called Gentium, and it was appalling.

I have another laptop at home still running on XP, and the difference is very obvious. I use Bitstream Vera Sans on XP, but it's absolutely awful on Vista. How can the same font look so nice on one platform but so bad on another?

I have checked all of the basic Display Settings, and can't find anything wrong. I have tried Aero, Standard and Classic views. I have tried ClearType and Standard font smoothing. I have removed font smoothing completely. I have changed my screen resolution. Nothing helps.

Anybody have any suggestions on where I might be going wrong?

 

[Lemon13]

what monitor / graphiccard do u have (i have another laptop....) so what laptop do u use and in what resolution are u running it?

M. Knorr

MCSE, MCTS, MCSA, CCNA

 

[BadBigBen]

I agree with Lemon13 there, in that it sounds like a resolution problem, e.g. wrong geometry, example running at 1280x768 where the native would be 1440x900, would give you those symptoms...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Sielah]

Here's my current laptop spec :

- Compaq Presario V6000
- Intel Celeron CPU 520 @ 1.6 GHz
- Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
- Generic PnP Monitor on Intel 945 Chipset @ 60 Hz
- 1280 * 800 resolution
- 32 bit colours

These are the available resolution options :

- 800 x 600
- 1024 x 768
- 1280 x 600
- 1280 x 720
- 1280 x 768
- 1280 x 800

Everything except 1280 x 800 looks stretched or squashed.

 

[linney]

Compaq Presario V6000 Notebook PC series - specifications and warranty

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/e...9199-78308301-78308301-78308301-78867421.html

Display size
V6305CA / V6317CA / V6316CA: 15.4" WXGA High-Definition Brightview Widescreen
V6310CA: 15.4" WXGA High-Definition Brightview Widescreen (1280 X 800) Display
V6320CA: 15.4" WXGA High-Definition Brightview Widescreen Display

Display resolution
1280 x 800

Video adapter
V6310CA: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (UMA)
V6320CA / V6305CA / V6317CA / V6316CA: NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6150

Video RAM
Up to 128 MB shared video memory

Do you have this Key in your Registry?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

http://www.mydesktophelp.com/tips/win113.htm

This is a Font Troubleshooter

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/328607.html

There may be a problem with the installed video driver. Check with the video adapter manufacturer for a possible video driver update

Blurry Fonts
thread779-734529

 

[linney]

Some general things to try.

How to repair the operating system and how to restore the operating system configuration to an earlier point in time in Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212/#appliesto

You also have the option to use the Recovery options supplied by the manufacturer to return your machine to the "Factory Defaults", but make sure you save your valuable data before going down that path.

 

[Sielah]

It looks as if we have a winner. I followed the registry key delete/recreate instructions.

Now, when I use ClearType font smoothing, my fonts look a bit weird, but not as bad as before. When I use Standard font smoothing, they have the same look as XP.

So I consider that a fix. Thanks!